This post is all about how to self care on a budget.

What is Self-Care?

I don’t know about you but self care is must for me. If I am not giving myself at least once a week a little TLC, then I feel quickly run down and not my best. If I had to define self care, I’d say it is the act of doing something good for yourself, your body, mind, and soul.

Whether that means putting on a sheet mask, taking a bath, or making a delicious and nutritious meal from scratch. Whatever makes you feel good and comforting, and makes you feel in tune with yourself is essentially engaging in self care.

Taking a time out from the world and focusing only on yourself is so important in today’s busy and hectic world, where the days and weeks can pass by like a hurricane.

Why Self Care should be done?

Without you functioning to your fullest potential, highly likely, nothing else in your surrounding environment will function either. Self care means that you give yourself and your body the time to recuperate and heal. It is doing something good for yourself and that likely will then result in an overall improvement in your life. But how to do self care?

1. Self Care as a Mental Break From The Daily Stresses

Self care as a mental break can give you time to focus on your mind and inside. Turning off and simply just focusing on yourself to mentally recuperate from your children, your job, the demands of every day life, such as cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, appointments, errands, etc. is a true rejuvenation process.

2. Self Care to Physically Relax and Let Go

Turning off the outside world with its continuous negative news, and doing something good for your physical presence is great. You are making room to recuperate your body, but also mind and soul.

3. Self Care to Be The Best Version Of Yourself

If you practice self care on a continuous basis, you will find that you will turn into a different person. It helps in becoming the best version of yourself. Be that through healthy nutrition, exercise or sauna, taking care of your skin and outer appearance, you will feel that you can really show up as the person you were meant to be: energetic, positive, vibrant and strong!

Is Self Care Expensive?

Self care does not need to be expensive. You can do this while on a budget. All you have to do is put a little money aside if you want to splurge sometimes, such as getting a professional massage or seeing a facial esthetician.

If you do a lot of the self care yourself, such as your nails, facial treatments (cleaning and masks), you will really not spend a lot of money on self care.

How Can I Do Self Care On Budget

Go to your drugstore or stores like Walmart and Target!
It’s really not that difficult to be doing self care on a budget. Many places like Walmart and Target’s beauty departments have relatively inexpensive self care items. Those items include, sheet masks, manicure sets, self tanners, and Epsom salt.

1. Sheet Masks

Sheet masks at the drug store cost no more than $4.00 and I love sheet masks because they are cheap and they are usually made in Korea, so they can be good quality. For twenty minutes you can relax with that sheet mask and your skin will feel very nice afterwards.

2. Face Masks

Even face masks that come in a jar are super inexpensive if you buy them from drug stores. They usually cost no more than $15-$20 dollars and can last for many self care Sundays 🙂

3. Manicure and Pedicure Sets

A manicure and pedicure set usually costs around $10 dollars and you can use it over and over again. So you really only have that initial investment. Your cost per use will pay for the set itself compared to visiting the salon every 2 weeks. It will save you a ton of money! Also, you can conveniently do this at any time you want and have time from the comfort of your home.

4. Epsom Salt

Epsom salt is my favorite thing especially after a long work day. It relaxes your entire body and provides the skin with minerals. The more you do this, the less you will need to pay for massage therapy – which can add quite a bit. Your sleep will improve also, something that definitely is part of self care.

5. A Home Cooked Meal

As opposed to buying take our or going for an expensive meal (especially with this inflation going on!), cooking at home goes a long way. It will save you money on drinks. Nowadays, a two course meal lands you at about $100 – that is insane. Imagine the amount of groceries you would be able to buy with that $100 dollars!

In addition, the ingredients are more streamlined and you literally know what has gone into the meal. Not so much when you eat out all the time. Of course a nice dinner date at a restaurant can also be considered self care just be careful not to overspend.

Why Should You Self Care on a Budget?

Self care is important to all of us. With out busy, hectic and unpredictable life, things can get very overwhelming at times. It is important to engage in self care and since you are on a journey to financial success and freedom, engage in self care on a budget. Because that really only makes sense.

With a self care sinking fund in place, you will know exactly how much each month you have allocated towards that expense and when the time comes to use the money, you will have it ready! With a self care sinking fund, you will never not have money to splurge on yourself.

The Self Care Sinking Fund Explained

The easiest way to self care on a budget is to have a sinking fund in place. If you want to know in detail what a sinking fund is please read my post on this topic. In short though, a sinking fund is a fund setup to which you put a % of money each month or week from your budget for a period of time to cover future expenses.

Setting up a sinking fund for self care is a great idea to make sure you always have enough money saved up to spend on yourself. Your rewards can be beauty related or whatever you feel falls under the self care category.

What are the Benefits of Practicing Self-Care on a Budget?

The benefits of practicing self care on a budget are tremendous. Self care allows your to have well deserved ME-TIME, to be calm and rested, to make yourself feel better mentally and physically.

How you do that is really up to you but engaging in self care on a budget is really key to the entire idea, especially if you find yourself on your debt free journey or want to retire early.

When you have a self care sinking fund in place, you do not need to necessarily dip into this money if you don’t want to! Just because you have the self care sinking fund, does not mean you have to spend it every month or every week of course. Instead, pick a night here and there where you spend no money and just sip on a cup of tea and paint your toe nails!

You really do not need to spend much money on self care but if you want to make self care a regular thing in your life you might as well set aside some money for this. Also, you won’t need to use your credit card for any purchases because you already have the money saved up for this.

12 Budget Friendly Self-Care Ideas

Here are 12 budget friendly self care ideas that you can do:

1. A Picnic in the Park

2. Manicure at Home (DIY)

3. Pedicure at Home (DIY)

4. Movie night at home

5. Cooking with Your Significant Other

6. Put on a Face Mask

7. Reading a good book

8. Laying out in the Sun (Vitamin D!)

9. Taking a Swim in the Ocean or Lake

10. Meditating

11. Taking Time for Your Hobbies

12. Enjoy a nice warm cup of tea and cookies

Final Note

Self care should be enjoyed and done regularly during intense times when you need to unwind and find peace. By doing self care on a budget you always have enough money to spend on self care things that you like to do. You will never not be able to afford it (if it remains within your budget). A self care sinking fund is the answer to always having enough money saved up for self care days.

This post is all about how to self care on a budget.

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